Public Order Offences

Public order offences can be extremely complex and difficult cases to manage.

Some of these offences dictate that the defendant must have been acting as part of a group or that their behaviour was of a certain nature; actions alone may not be enough for the prosecution to be successful. This means that the defence team has to carefully analyse and scrutinise many forms of evidence in order to help break the prosecution case down. Simply being present at a particular location does not necessarily mean guilt and the prosecution must prove more than proximity.

There has been a lot of media attention paid to riots in the past few years and many people have been charged with the public order offence of rioting. This offence applies where a group of 12 or more people gather to use or threaten violence.

Violent disorder is very similar to the act of riot except that only three or more people are involved.

The offence of Affray arises if a person uses or threatens to use violence against another and that his conduct would cause a person of reasonable firmness to fear for his safety.

There are factors that will determine the precise length of sentence that a defendant faces, beyond the precise offence that they are accused of. If you, or somebody you know, has been accused of a public order offence and you are worried about the outcome then contact Freeman & Co Solicitors today to discuss your case.